The Hardest Stitch
by gritzy42
Summary: Set after the Season 1 finale, the story of Cameron's return and how his actions impacted the entire team. They discover that the side effects of Stitching have some serious consequences, but come together as a team to do what they do best, solve murders and get to the truth.


**Chapter 1**

The first Stitch had been the hardest. At first the entire team had refused to participate, still reeling over what had happened to Cameron. It took almost two weeks of refusing to work when a case the team couldn't refuse was hoisted into their laps. Les knew what he was doing to manipulate them. The clock was ticking on a young girl who had been kidnapped by a known cult with a 50/50 survival rate of the kidnapped victims. Of course "surviving" was a strong word based on the torture the group inflicted upon the girls. With the lone eyewitness being dead and no leads the team assembled to save the day. They saved 30 girls that day, and countless more who would have been subject to the horrors so many had seen before.

After that it had become a sluggish push into work. Work the case, finish the job. No one really laughed, or joked, or even really smiled. Stitch, investigate, close the case, do it again. Camille's piloting was slow and painful to Kirsten after months under Cameron's experience and natural abilities. She wouldn't say it, mainly because she refused to say much about him period, but it was very clear that Camille, while better than anyone else available was no Cameron.

It didn't help that Linus and Camille were barely on speaking terms. Linus' jealousy melded with Camille's insecurity and it made it very hard for them to work together. With mapping and piloting being out of sync, Kirsten was bounced bumpily from memory to memory like a plane going through heavy turbulence that sometimes careened out of control. She bounced earlier than she wanted most of the time and they constantly had to wait for the next round to get enough leads to go on.

The threat to team remained imminent, but dormant. Not a peep had been heard, which led the team to believe that the intended target was Fisher, and for the time being they were as safe as they could possibly be.

….

The team had become regulars where Cameron was being kept. When Kirsten first heard his heart beat in the lab, after nearly 7 minutes of the atrocious never ending flat line tone, which haunted almost every dream she had, she was overcome with relief and joy, emotions that had simply been words 4 months ago, but now she felt them with pinpoint accuracy. The joy didn't last though, as Cameron never woke up from his horrific experiment gone wrong and has remained in a coma with very little brain activity for the past 3 months. Thank goodness that while comatose, his vitals remain strong, as his ever pragmatic parents, who seemed to almost be expecting the call from the hospital would surely have pulled any life support back after the first month. They don't visit anymore. Kirsten is there daily, unless wrapped up in a case. Sometimes she sulks quietly next to him, holding his hand, until visiting hours are over and sometimes she will tell him about the cases, and the team. She will ask his advice on how to navigate new feelings, new emotional situations, new social situations. He never responds but somehow, she knows he is there for her, in the only way he can be.

Over the past 7 months Kirsten's understanding of various human emotions, and being able to have and recognize her own has been no less of a miracle in itself. The Stitching seems to be rebuilding paths to her brain that were long dormant. She imagined Cameron would liken them to paths in a forest that had been abandoned, but she was picking them up and following them to new and interesting things every time she Stitched. They had no idea why it was working, but she had Linus start to scan and map her brain to see if there were in fact areas that appeared to "wake up" after each stitch. She didn't know the science like Cameron did, but when he woke up, he would be able to look at the scans and tell what was going on.

No one else shared Kirsten's optimism regarding Cameron's condition. Maggie never spoke of him Linus referred to him in the past tense, and Camille usually only during tantrums of frustration when she couldn't navigate the Stitch properly. Much like veterans of war, it seems the only way to forget the trauma was to ignore it. Kirsten was the only one who thought he would come home to them. Home to her.

Kirsten hadn't bothered to try to fully invest in what she had seen in Cameron's memory. Between the montage of their interactions all tinted with the emotion of passion, protection and what she believed was love, Kirsten got more than she bargained for looking into his mind. She replayed the moments from her perspective, then his perspective over and over again in her perfect memory and was so amazed how the exact same memory could change based on the emotion accompanying it. If it was the beginning of mutual love then Kirsten didn't want to know. She wasn't sure she wanted the first love of her life to die in a coma before she even got a chance to hear it for herself how he felt. Her life held so much tragedy already, it was hard to conceive of much more. It was getting a little pathetic. No, she would wait until Cameron woke up, before spending any time thinking about what else could be between them. She would wait to find out if the witty banter, easy smiles and knowing glances were just friendship intensified by this very intimate work environment, or something bigger. Either way though, she knew without a doubt in her mind that she would wait, as long as it takes. What is time to Kirsten Clark anyways?

 **Chapter 2**

Kirsten was sitting in the chair beside Cameron's bed telling him about their latest case. A woman overwhelmed by sadness at the loss of her love, had started threatening couples who were taking their love for granted. She started going after divorce attorneys, cheating spouses and when she caught a man and his mistress in the act of cheating she taught them a deadly lesson, dying herself in the process. The cheating man had been a Federal Prosecutor, so they thought it had been an orchestrated hit from the big case he was working, when it turns out the motive was as usual far simpler and yet as far as Kirsten was concerned, more complex: Love. The longing for her love was overbearing in her mind tonight, especially as she sat with her fingers interlaced with Cameron's. This had also been Fisher's first case back on the job. It was bittersweet as they felt so much closer to normal, but still so incredibly far.

"You know, Fisher is not quite as good as you are at playing along in my stories. I think he has too much authority and integrity in him to pull off a good lie for the sake of getting the details" Kirsten teased while playing with his fingers.

"I resent that" Fisher said from the door, trying to keep his emotions under check as he surveyed the unmoving, unimproving Cameron from across the room.

"Fisher, what brings you here? I am just updating Cameron on our latest adventure, now that you are my official back up again," a thin tight smile was plastered to her face.

"Kirsten, I know you spend a lot of time here…

"Catching Cameron up" she interrupted, already acutely aware of where this lecture was headed.

"But you need to start looking for life outside of these hospital walls. Cameron's important to all of us, but you can't quit living your life waiting for him to wake up." He finished, with the perfect mix of sadness and sympathy that only a seasoned homicide detective delivering bad news could.

Kirsten didn't move. In her own way she could communicate her position on most subjects with absolute silence. Finally she turned to look at him "I haven't told you, the day he…well…we were visiting with you in the hospital and he is still hoping for that beer someday. I hope you don't disappoint him again."

Fisher looked at Cameron, replaying their interactions that had echoes of the high school band leader trying desperately to get the star quarterback over for a video game marathon, he winced a little at the memory. The truth was, Fisher _could_ like Cameron, he could like all of them, but he had lost enough co-workers in his dangerous line of work that he stopped building connections long ago. What was the point when they all ended up dead in the end anyways. He didn't like to live that way, but in his mind there was no other way.

"Maybe I will bring us a couple beers next time I am here, I will catch him up on my investigations too" he finally sighed.

Kirsten gave him a half smile.

When Fisher left and the lights started dimming for the end of visitor hours, Kirsten participated in one of her most pathetic rituals she had established over the past few months. One of the night nurses was very lenient with her and the attention she paid to Cameron and turned a blind eye when Kirsten would climb up into his hospital bed, rest her head on his shoulder and fall asleep next to him. It has only happened a handful of times, but after this last case she couldn't pull herself away from him. She drifted to a restless sleep as the monitors around her confirmed that while not really present, Cameron was not yet gone.

...

She woke to what felt like uneven breathing and an increasing heartbeat which caused a surge of panic. She shot up out of bed ready to call the nurse when she ended up coming face to face with Cameron's big green eyes and look of absolute shock. She was certain her face matched his as she started back in relief, awe, shock and a little disbelief.

"Cameron, tell me I am not dreaming," Kirsten begged, "tell me this is happening."

"You are going to have to clue me in on what is happening here, things are pretty fuzzy from where I am sitting."

"Cameron, your plan, it didn't work, none of it worked. You have been in a coma for a while now, but it is going to be ok," she told him firmly, grabbing his face in her hands. She wasn't entirely prepared for the best way to approach this type of news and she didn't want to cause any additional harm.

Cameron stared at her blankly, and she started to worry that maybe she had said too much. "OK," he finally said, "but what plan, and I am sorry but do I know you?"

 **Chapter 3**

Maggie emerged from the hospital room to talk to Kirsten, Linus, Camille and Fisher in the hallway. As soon as Cameron had asked the question a flurry of activity swirled around him, nurses, and calls for doctors. Kirsten was ushered out of the room without exchanging another word with Cameron. She explained to the doctor that Cameron didn't recognize her, which brought on a whole new level of testing, scans and questions. They didn't want to "cause him stress" so anyone he didn't recognize, but should have, was kept out in the waiting area.

"Well, it is pretty clear he doesn't remember much of what has occurred past Marta's accident," she sighed. "He didn't recognize Camille or Fisher either, but he remembers the lab, his work and pretty much everything else about his life."

"How is that even possible, what a precise period of time to have forgotten," Camille wondered aloud. "What would make him forget just the past few months?"

"They aren't sure, but apparently it can be pretty common for amnesia patients to have a book marked day in time that they can't remember before or after, sometimes it is linked to a trauma and sometimes it is completely random" Maggie said eyeing Kirsten as she spoke, "but obviously we can't get too deep with his doctors on why we are here in the first place, which is going to make their job harder."

Kirsten stared blankly into space, knowing all too well how losing massive chunks of your memory can impact your life. She redirected at Maggie, "so we can't talk about Stitching, or what damage it may have caused or how they might help him."

Maggie sighed again "No, we can't tell them anything. Their job is going to be to get him healthy and hopefully back to work soon."

"So we need to show him and explain to him what has happened, help him remember," Linus said, ever the optimist. "We have recordings from the lab and our findings, notes on investigations. His life is probably better recorded than most…"

"Recovering his memory over the past 4 months, while useful is not vital to what we are doing, and not entirely necessary," she said firmly.

"Of course, what is good for the program, here we go again," Kirsten stared down Maggie with a look that could kill.

"This is not only me Kirsten. The doctors suggest letting whatever is going to come back do so naturally through time and repetition and not to inundate him with detail. It could cause more harm than good to try to force him to remember incorrectly," Maggie soothed.

"Which makes sense, when you are dealing with a normal brain injury, not one brought on by having a second consciousness traipsing around inside your thoughts."

"Kirsten, we don't know whether or not it was the Stitch, or the oxygen deprivation that caused the damage, so for right now we follow what the doctors are saying, do I make myself clear?" Maggie threatened.

Camille looked shamefully down at the ground, unsure of whether or not her piloting had caused the damage or something else. Linus appeared to be having the same thoughts.

Kirsten sighed, "Fine, when can we see him?"

Maggie suppressed a smile, "Well, they don't want him to have any additional visitors, but he is insisting on talking to the blond girl he found in his room, so I would suggest you go in, but be careful not to say too much, he needs his rest." Maggie's eyes flitted to Camille for a brief second, "we need him back as quickly as possible."

Camille looked at Kirsten "I will be in the car, see you out there?" Kirsten nodded and Camille turned on her heel and left. Linus and Fisher gave her the head start she needed and followed sullenly. "Good news never felt so bad," quipped Linus.

…

Kirsten knocked on the hospital door frame as she tentatively entered the room.

"I am not going to bite," Cameron joked weakly.

"Maggie said you wanted to see me? You should be resting, not talking," Kirsten said approaching the bed. She was still trying to wrangle the conflicting emotions running through her mind. Old Cameron would have known that about her, known how challenging it was to navigate her intense sense of relief coupled with the dread of knowing that the Cameron she knew, was essentially gone and replaced with the person she had met months earlier.

"I know, and I can only guess what the orders were: get me better, get me back to the lab. I get it, I just, I had to ask…"he hesitated in that oh so predictable Cameron way which gave Kirsten a little bit of hope. "We have to be pretty close, you and I, to have you spending the night in my comatose bed, are we together? And you said that the experiment went wrong…what experiment? What went wrong?" as if on cue his heart rate monitor showed his increased anxiety and through faster, and slightly more erratic beats, bringing Kirsten back to reality.

Kirsten grabbed his hand, a sensation that had become natural over the past few months and stroked it lightly. "There are going to be all kinds of answers for you, and it sucks admitting that Maggie is right, but we need to get you better, and then we can solve the mystery of what happened to your mind."

He hesitated and shook his head a little, "Kirsten, something isn't quite right…"

"I know you have a million questions, and the good news is we have tomorrow, which compared to what we were facing yesterday is the best possibly we've have had in months. So please just rest tonight, and tomorrow I will be back and we will work out a plan, I promise. Do you trust me?" she pleaded.

He looked deep into her eyes, and felt a trigger go off in him somewhere. Trust. He decided immediately "Yes, I trust you."

"Good, then I will see you tomorrow," she smiled as she gave his hand one last squeeze.

"Kirsten, one more thing…"

She turned and sighed expectantly.

"How long have I been awake?"

'What an odd question', she thought to herself. She ran the math in her head, "about 8 hours, give or take, why?"

"It's just, it doesn't really _feel_ like 8 hours," he replied, wincing a little at trying to convey his meaning.

Kirsten held her breath and a pool of dread was filling in the back of her throat and draining into her stomach. "How long does it _feel_ like you have been awake Cameron?"

"Minutes, hours, days, I am kinda messed up here to be honest, it's like we have all been here before for some reason," he said waving his hands while he spoke.

She walked right over to him and grabbed him in a tight hug and whispered in his ear. "Cameron, I want you to listen to me. This has to be our secret, you and I. We are going to work this out, but it is vital that you tell no one but me what you just said."

He held her back, but pulled back slightly to look in her eyes, "am I in some kind of danger?"

She ran her fingers through his curiously, impressively, well coiffed hair. "You and I are the only ones who know what you mean and for the time being, until we figure out our next move, it should stay that way. So get some rest tonight and I will make sure you have a plan in the morning. It is evening now, so they will probably bring you some light food and then either sedate you or you will fall asleep on your own, and I will be back when you wake. She realized that she was still stroking his hair and their faces were only inches apart. "I have missed those eyes" she said matter of factly and stood up to leave.

"Goodnight" he called out after her.

…

She used the walk back to the car to try to determine what she should share with Camille and Linus. They were without a doubt her allies in this, but she had entrusted so little of her own past to them, she was concerned with having to divulge too much of her life to make it all make sense. She decided for the time being not to say anything. She knew they were targets and the message sent through Barberio was no less cryptic. If Cameron did have Temporal Dysplasia, what would that mean for him? Would he also be able to Stitch like her, or is the reason she can Stitch so well is simply because her father had fine-tuned the system to her in such a way that it had nothing to do with the disastrous side effects she encountered? Either way, she wouldn't risk him. If the wrong people realized that he was a candidate for Stitching who knows what they would do with him.

The only positive in Cameron's condition at this point was that dead look in her eyes that had become so familiar over the years in her own personal interactions with others didn't seem to be a factor in his symptoms.

She opened the car door to find an expectant Camille in the front seat. "How does he seem?"

"Confused, anxious, he wants answers but seemed to trust that we have his best interests at heart," Kirsten said.

"Are we going to tell him who we are, or are we going to work the plan?" Camille asked.

Kirsten sighed, "I don't know, they have a point, not pushing him too hard, but considering the circumstances of the accident I don't know how we are going to keep it from him long term….plus he and I agreed, no secrets."

"I just can't believe he is awake, I really didn't think…"Camille trailed off.

Kirsten didn't respond.

 **Chapter 4**

Kirsten arrived the next morning by Uber so she could get Cameron on her own, only to find Maggie talking to his Doctor's in the hallway. Kirsten held back waiting for a report on his status. Maggie looked relieved so the news had to be good.

"Morning Kirsten, his parents are with him right now." that gave Kirsten pause. She hadn't seen them in months as they disappeared to mourn the loss of their only son prematurely for the second time in his relatively short life.

"Good, they must be relieved," she said.

"Yes well, we know the story on them, and they aren't too fond of us right now," Maggie sighed, with a troubled expression.

"Is there any other news?" Kirsten asked nodding towards the doctors.

"MRIs are coming back clean, and neurological tests are coming back fine. They are continuing to monitor, but seeing as how the amnesia is only affecting a relatively short period of time they don't think they are going to hold him here for more than a week. He will be meeting with therapists to try and recover his memory," she told her.

"How are we going to make sure he doesn't share too much?" Kirsten asked, more for Cameron's sake than the program's but Maggie didn't need to know that.

"We are going to need to make sure whomever he is seeing is one of ours," Maggie said.

Cameron's parents stepped out of the room and closed the door behind them, they took in Maggie and Kirsten with some surprise. "He has quite the dedicated set of colleagues," Dr. Goodkin remarked as she stepped over to join the conversation.

"How is he doing this morning?" asked Kirsten.

"Anxious to get back to work as quickly as possible, and stubbornly refusing all help, as usual," she vented and turned to Maggie. "I don't know what you have my son working on, but you are definitely able to keep him motivated. He is refusing to come home with us, and wants to stay here and get back to whatever it is that you all are doing."

"He is an extremely talented young man," Maggie smiled stiffly "and we are lucky to have him."

"Well, we asked him to keep us posted on his recovery, I would hope that you would help him remember to provide updates," she stared them both down until they nodded in affirmation.

Maggie turned to Kirsten, "I know how you are feeling right now, we all share the same level of fear, concern and blame, but you have to trust that I do have what is best for Cameron in mind. Of course the program should remain secret, but I hold myself responsible for what happened to that young man in there and I won't let anyone else hurt him, you have my word."

Kirsten nodded, "Okay, can I go and see him now?"

Maggie nodded and headed towards the waiting room.

"And Maggie, I think we are all responsible for what happened, you tried to stop him, it was me who decided to go through with the stitch. Don't blame yourself," and with that she headed straight into Cameron's hospital room.

…

Cameron sat up straighter the second she walked in. He seemed restless and anxious.

"Kirsten, I thought you would never get here," he said and she walked over. He noticed how beautiful she looked in skinny jeans and a flowing top, her hair half pulled up.

She smiled, despite her stress, "it is so good to see you awake and talking."

"This isn't entirely a social call Kirsten, what the heck is going on here, and what do you want me to do?"

"Well, let's start by laying some ground rules. The doctors don't want us divulging too much information about the last four months to you. It will make any recall you have more confusing and could actually cause more damage than good." He nodded hesitantly.

"The challenge we have is we aren't talking about a run of the mill brain injury necessarily. So I am going to give you the basics on what happened, but not the details. Those are for you to find yourself, do you understand?"

"The neuroscientist in me knows you're a right, the rest of me wants answers….now." he stated.

"I understand that so much more than you can know. So here are the details I can share that shouldn't taint you too much for finding your own way home. First you were involved in a Stitch that went wrong…"

"As the Stitcher or the subject?" he swallowed. She knew this was going to be a challenge. Being evasive with someone as smart as Cameron, was almost as ineffectual as being evasive with someone like her.

"As I said, you were involved in a Stitch gone wrong. Once we got you out we revived you and you never regained consciousness. The whole team, and your parents thought you were lost,"

"Except for you, who stayed with me, and believed in me," he said placing his hand on hers. She stared at their hands and smiled. She squeezed his back.

"OK, so tell me about why I am in danger."

"Well I won't go into too much detail," he rolled his eyes, "but it is very important that you understand a few things: When we started working together I was standoffish and you were a super-nerd-afraid-of-his-shadow, but after spending so much time together we are now partners. But more importantly you know things about me that no one else does. For example I have a rare condition called "Temporal Dysplasia" which causes me the inability to perceive the passage of time. I can't tell the difference between a minute or an hour, much like you described, is that still how you are feeling?"

He nodded, eyes wide.

"What everyone but you and I are unaware of is that it was caused by my father doing a Stitch experiment on me as a child. It was caused specifically by Stitching, and it is more than likely that your Stitch accident caused the same issue for you," she finished, waiting for him to take it all in.

"So why keep that detail a secret, and from whom?" he asked.

She paused to try and sift through only the most crucial pieces of information to avoid further complicating things.

"We appeared to be under attack from someone that went after you and another member of the team. You Stitched to try and find out what had happened, and that is all I will share on that subject," she finished. He opened his mouth to ask another question and promptly shut it, waiting for her to finish.

"But the second reason is there is a pretty big assumption that the reason I am so skilled at Stitching is because of the Temporal Dysplasia. I am the "asset" upon which this program rests. If it is determined that you have it, they could assume that one of us is expendable, which is why we need to keep this hidden, and stick together,"

"You say it is 'assumed', it sounds like you are not convinced that is true," he asked.

"Well, you are the neuroscientist, and I would bet that is one of the first questions you need to start working on. Why am I so skilled at this and how was the Temporal Dysplasia caused in the first place?" she challenged.

"And can I reverse it," he finished for her.

She swallowed and nodded.

He sat there thoughtfully, "and all without letting anyone know that other than the amnesia something is not quite right with me."

She nodded again.

"OK, I have one more question, alright, I probably have a 1000 more questions," she opened her mouth to protest and he kept going "Super-Nerd-afraid-of-his-shadow? Really?"

"Really," she said flatly.

"So the plan is, get out of here, get back to the lab and start working on this as quickly as possible?" he asked.

"You got it."

"Can't wait," he smiled.

 **Chapter 5**

A week later, the elevator descended the more than 200 meters into the earth and opened to reveal Cameron, at last returning to his lab, after months away. The entire room of people burst into applause. He smiled widely at his reception, but that quickly gave way to embarrassment. Maggie stood on the bridge, as proud as she could be, to see her prize neuroscientist back. "Good to see you Cameron, you don't need to jump right in now, only going as fast as you can," she advised, knowing he would jump right back in.

"I agree," he said surprising her, "I will just hang back and get the feel of things today if that's alright."

Maggie's eyes narrowed in suspicion, but nodded, "very wise. Let's meet in the conference room for details on our assignment."

Cameron walked past Kirsten and appeared to linger a moment longer than was necessary so they could walk into the room together. She smiled, unsure of how much of their connection was really wiped from his mind and then wondered if she was imaging things that she wanted to see. In response, he sat right next to her. Camille and Linus entered the room a couple of seconds apart and Fisher, back for his second case after rehab joined them as well.

The flat screen behind Maggie came to life revealing the picture of a young man, maybe 16 or 17, he was very slight and had a "brainy" look about him. "This is Justin Davis, 21 years old. He is a suspected hacker who works for a hacker group known as 'Notorious,'" she began.

"As in the group that was suspected of accessing the Russian government's list of secret operatives?" Kirsten asked.

"And took down that cheating website and exposed all those cheating men to the world?" Camille asked.

"And took out that group that leaked the Sony emails?" Cameron followed.

"And…" Linus began.

"Yes," Maggie interrupted. With a team this educated in technology, this list could take a while. "All those things and hundreds more none of us have ever heard of."

"Well he is going to have no shortage of enemies," Cameron stated thoughtfully. The group smiled at him. He looked around, "Guys, if you stop talking to stare at me every time I open my mouth we are going to miss the Stitch window," he said bashfully. Kirsten was fighting the urge to grab his hand under the table. 'Get a grip on yourself' she said to herself.

"So what is it they are hoping to find out? Everything and everyone he ever interacted with so they can go after the group?" she asked suspiciously.

Maggie picked up on her tone, "We are looking for his murderer and whatever other details we pick up would be a bonus."

"So let's get started," Kirsten said.

The team headed into the room, and walked by the dead man in the corpse cassette. Kirsten realized it had become habit for none of them to look directly at it, except of course for poor Eric, who had to monitor that part of the connection.

Camille walked up to Cameron's desk unsure of where to stand. Cameron watched her hesitate and then look to him to find out what to do. "Look Camille, I know I am struggling to remember a lot right now, but I know that if I were going to let you pilot through my own brain, then I must have had a lot of faith in you."

"How did you know I…." she started to stammer and he realized he let that cat out of the bag.

"I get the impression that you don't have the same support of everyone here," he said softly so only she would hear him. Camille nodded, eyes wide. "So why don't we consider this a continuation of your training," he said more loudly, "you pilot, and I will help out to keep you on track. I am probably going to be a little rusty myself. It will take the pressure off."

Linus fumed a little, but kept his mouth shut as Cameron surveyed the tension. What had happened to his lab? Kirsten walked out in her "catsuit" and he tried to keep his thoughts professional as they tracked her walking across the room. She had called them "partners", but it felt like more. He did find her in his bed…

"I was hoping to get one of those nonsensical one liners of yours," she said as she climbed the stairs into the Fish Tank. "The least you could do is call the Stitch." Camille handed him the Comm Link expectantly.

"Life-sci"..."check,"

"Sub-bio"…"check,"

"Engineering"…"check,"

"Medical"…"check,"

"Communications"…"check,"

"Comm check, one, two"..."loud and clear,"

"I've heard the truth, now I want some answers," Cameron said with a smile, and the room gave him a quick applause.

"On my Mark in 3-2-1...mark," Camille took over, with Cameron by her side. "Tell me what you see Kirsten." Cameron studied her movements as she managed the fragile connection between the dead and living.

"Keep her on that deeper track there," he pointed to the screen, "it will be less jumpy as she approaches his final minutes."

"Kirsten, give us an update, where are you?" Camille asked.

"He is at home, looking at his command center. He has quite the set up," the wall in front of her was covered in at least 10 monitors of various sizes.

"Can you read anything on the monitors?" Camille asked.

"No, they are not clear," she said.

"Linus can you set up a filter to read the digital content a little easier?" Cameron asked. "Anything for you friend," Linus said typing furiously on his computer. "Filter applied."

"How about now Kirsten," Camille asked again.

"Yes, I can see he is looking at a couple of stock exchanges, possibly doing some kind of trading and running some code. Oh and he is looking a website for foster care….wait...I think he might be in the government website for Foster care children. There is also a picture of a girl on his desk, they were on a trip together, she is beautiful, a little out of his league," she commented.

"We have no intel on a girlfriend," Fisher commented.

"We're at two minutes," Cameron reminded Camille she started to fumble a little and he grabbed her hands. "Watch this, and describe exactly what we are doing" he said as he guided her hands to the right place on the map.

"Kirsten we are going to move you to the exact time of death so you can see what happened," Camille said.

Kirsten felt the smooth transition and didn't make any unnecessary stops or jumps in between and it felt like the Stitch was completely under control. She was so grateful for Cameron in that moment.

The scene played out before her like a movie, the girl from the photograph being held at gunpoint, Justin pleading with her captors, offering to do anything. The captors deciding that it wasn't enough and killing the girl while Justin screamed over her lifeless body.

"This wasn't his murder, this was the murder of the woman from the photograph," Kirsten told them.

"What?!" Cameron said, rerunning the map scan to see what he had missed. "It looks like her murder was more impactful than his own," he said.

"We only have 15 second, Kirsten needs to bounce," Linus spoke up. It had felt like only seconds the two minute warning had gone off.

"Kirsten, you need to bounce, we can come back with another pass in a few hours," Camille told her hurriedly and Kirsten's fingers tapped her keys and she shot out of the water with three seconds to spare.

"Lose track of time Cameron?" Maggie asked. Kirsten tried not to react too quickly to that question. Cameron looked up sheepishly. "Sorry Maggie, sorry Kirsten, I knew I would be a little rusty, I will watch it closer from now on."

"Alright Kirsten, let's dry off and get a debrief going in the conference room," Maggie said.

Cameron excused himself from Camille to catch Kirsten in the hallway. "That was way too close Kirsten, I could have put you in real danger, I can't risk you like this, we have to tell them," he whispered frantically.

"No, Cameron, we can't. _I can't risk you like tha_ t. We are going to have to start working on some coping strategies to keep you straight," she whispered back just as intently. It warmed him to hear her say she wasn't willing to risk him, and for the second time today he thought about her in that catsuit, only this time dripping wet…

"Fine, we will try it your way, but if it ever gets that close again, we are going to have to at least bring Camille and Linus in as a failsafe," he compromised. She nodded and pushed past him to the locker room.

….

Back in the briefing room Kirsten recalled all she could about the Stitch. "I don't think the girl was his girlfriend, but he definitely loved her."

"Maybe she was his sister, or a best friend?" Camille mused.

"The foster care website was extremely emotionally charged," Kirsten told them. "Maybe they were siblings?"

Camille looked down at her iPad to pull up his profile and other details from various government sources "Justin Davis, taken into Foster Care when he was 8, his mother died...she was killed by his father who is still in prison. He did have sister, Sarah. Oh, she was his twin, they were separated and went into different homes. Sarah is deceased, died two months ago, and the case is still pending…"

"What was the feeling associated with the foster care site he was hacking?" Maggie asked.

"Anger, a lot of anger," she confirmed.

"What about the companies included in the stock he was watching?" Cameron asked. Kirsten thought for a second "HTG, RSQ, PPW and MGM". He was amazed by her impeccable memory, this girl is really smart.

"It's still a lot of broken pieces, but I can get you details on all those companies, maybe they are somehow linked to Foster care, or their Foster parents?" Linus said.

"Let me see what I can find out on Sarah's pending investigation. Maybe they have some leads that could point us in the direction of someone Justin would blame," he stood up to leave.

"How long is his refractory period?" Kirsten asked Linus. "About 18 hours unfortunately," Linus told her.

"OK, well I will run down the list of Foster homes and see if any of them stood out as being particularly unpleasant," Cameron said.

"Alright, I will go with Fisher to talk to the cop working Sarah's case," Kirsten said.

"Sound like a plan, let's get to work people," Maggie said.

...

After about 8 hours of non-stop research the team had compiled profiles on all of the pieces to try and find something that stood out as being something worth either killing Sarah for, or avenging her death.

"What did you find out?" Maggie asked the team.

"Well, as expected the Foster care system had some rough homes and some that were ok. Justin was in 7 homes over his 10 year period, Sarah was in 4. Justin had some behavioral issues, mostly described by teachers as being arrogant and disruptive."

Camille jumped in "that would be code for smarter than his teachers and letting them know it."

Cameron continued, "Sarah was removed from two homes due to neglect, but was with her last family for 4 years before she was finally out of the system. Justin received a full ride to Georgia Tech for computer science, where he eventually dropped out, and became a full time hacker, and Sarah stayed here in California and did odd jobs. While sad, there is nothing stand out in their past to suggest that she needed to be murdered and he needed to avenge her."

"What do we know about Sarah's murder?" Maggie asked Kirsten.

"Fisher is still looking into details, but we talked to the investigating officer and they have no leads. Her body was found in a dumpster, she had been killed somewhere else. The killers left no physical evidence, and she was found about 7 days after the murder. They have located no motives for killing her in her personal life," Kirsten replied.

"I wonder if she was killed because of Justin," Cameron mused. "Maybe they went after her to get to him."

"There were definitely feelings of guilt intermingled with her," Kirsten agreed.

"Well, we have 10 hours until the next Stitch. Why don't you all get some rest, and hopefully we can figure it out with some additional help from Justin tomorrow.

…

Camille left the room first and Linus followed after her. "Hey, good work today," he told her.

"I am sorry, are you talking to me?" she asked, barely able to contain her anger.

"Look Camille, I know things have been a little rocky lately," he started.

"A little rocky? Are you out of your mind?" she asked. "You have basically ignored me for the past 3 months, made working here miserable and been as unsupportive as possible. But now that Cameron is back and we are back 'on the same level' you are going to talk to me again? Unbelieveable!" she fumed turning on her heel and walking out the elevator doors. Cameron and Kirsten watched as Linus tried to collect himself and walked back to his desk.

"You OK buddy?" Cameron asked.

Linus rubbed his eyes, "yeah, it's a long story," he replied.

"I've got time," Cameron offered.

"You might," Linus agreed, "but I can't fill you on much...doctor's orders and all."

"Right, of course, well, I don't know what exactly is going on here, but it sounds like you may owe her an apology.

"You're right," Linus paused, "you don't know anything about what is going on here."

Cameron could only nod and walk away. It was like waking up in the twilight zone, where everything looked the same, but no one acted the same. It seems like whatever had happened in this lab as a result of his accident had some serious far reaching effects and he was only scratching the surface of the damage caused.

Kirsten walked up behind him, "Why do I get the feeling that this is all my fault?" he asked. She didn't answer.

 **Chapter 7**

Cameron and Kirsten shared an Uber back to his place so they could talk openly about tactics without a fear of being overheard. She did think to scan the place for bugs, which Cameron found to be immensely entertaining. She was quiet and smug, knowing eventually she would be proved right and they wouldn't be laughing at her anymore.

Cameron watched in disdain as Kirsten ate her chinese straight out of the box, as opposed to the plate he got her while they discussed some of the mechanics of faking the observation of time.

"Your phone timer will become your best friend, setting alarms for important activities and managing your time is crucial," he took notes as she pulled out her phone. "I have the entire day scheduled, when to eat, when to wake up, how long it should take to get ready. It will drive you nuts, but you will get used to it."

"What did you do before smart phones?" he asked.

"I had egg timers and stop watches everywhere. Every room, every purse, everywhere," she said ruefully. He winced for her.

"OK, what else?" he asked.

"You need to memorize how long it takes to get between various places of interest. We will have to figure out how to convince the team the reason you aren't driving is because of the head injury," she mused to herself.

"Just to be clear, it isn't safe for me to drive a car around, but "driving" you around in someone else's brain is completely acceptable?" he asked, half teasing and half pleading her to change her mind about piloting.

"You saw Camille today Cameron, she isn't there yet and I need you on the controls," she said matter of factly, getting up to clean up the dinner mess.

Cameron paused for a second, trying to frame up what he wanted to ask.

"Kirsten, you and I, I still don't understand. You called us "partners" but it feels like so much more than that," he said in the form of a question. These were going to be the moments when keeping secrets from him were going to be the hardest. Her heart told her to be honest with him, but Maggie's directive and a fear of losing him forever made her take pause. "When you told me about Marta's accident, I asked you if you were together," she began, "And you told me no, but things were headed that direction. I supposed you could have said the same thing about us."

"So the connection was there?" he asked.

"It was more than a connection, I think," she answered "more than chemistry." She thought back to the hospital room where they first met, 16 years before, "this sounds ridiculous, but almost fated."

Cameron didn't move, he stared into her eyes, and he didn't breathe, he was terrified of kissing her and having her reject him when he needed her so badly, but he was terrified of not, as he felt this was the closest to an admission of feelings they have ever had to chance to have.

"What have I done to deserve such a worthy fate?" he asked her. She smiled.

"Oh not much yet, but I have high expectations," she joked and the tense moment passed.

"Well that is all the lesson I have for you tonight, you should try to get some rest, I would like to see a solo pilot out of you in a couple of hours," she picked up her bag and headed for the door.

"Um, Kirsten," Cameron stammered as she opened the door and looked back at him. "This is going to sound insane, but sleeping alone has become a little...terrifying. Is there any chance you can stay with me tonight?"

Her eyes narrowed, "What is terrifying?"

"The thought of falling asleep and not waking back up," he confessed. "I have been trying to avoid sleep for days." She took a sharp intake of breath. That would be the thing she feared most in this world as well.

"Ok, of course, sure," she walked in and locked the door behind her.

Cameron grabbed her a pair of shorts and a shirt to sleep in, handed it to her and left her to change. Her pulse raced as she thought about the first night they spent together. Completely platonic and so he could watch over her. She admittedly been freaked out by the whole band of genius misfits hanging out in secret labs, but she stayed none-the-less, and now here history was repeating itself.

"I'll sleep on top of the covers," he said coming back in the room, dressed in sweats and a t-shirt. "That won't be necessary," she said, "I trust you."

They crawled into bed and turned out the lights. She started on her side of the bed, but inched over to lay right next to him. She tentatively touched the spot on his chest where his scar was and rested her hand there. 'The man with the sensitive heart,' she thought to herself.

"I guess you know about that too," he asked.

She nodded.

"It's so strange, you know everything about me and I feel like I met you a week ago," he said sounding frustrated and exhausted. He pulled her a little closer.

"You already know me better than most people, with only a week's worth of information," she told him. She paused for a moment debating whether or not to ask him. "Cameron, do you remember much of your time in the hospital as a kid? Where you were, how long you were there, who you met?"

"Yes and no," he replied in a yawn. "I was eight. I was scared. The nurses were nice to me, my parents were...well you saw them at the hospital this last time. I remember it wasn't in a children's ward so I didn't meet many kids there. The food was terrible. It's where I decided I wanted to become a doctor...why do you ask?" She waited a minute before asking the question that had been haunting her for months.

"Do you remember any of the kids you met?" she asked hopefully, holding her breath. She looked up at him and realized he had fallen asleep. 'Damn it,' she thought to herself as she snuggled in a little closer and let herself doze off as well.

…

Cameron woke the next morning to the sound of his blender running. He jumped out of bed and found Kirsten in his kitchen, making a mess. Part frustrated, and part elated he decided to try and play it cool instead. Kirsten looked up as he padded in "morning cupcake" she said. "Hey ya stretch," he responded and she dropped the glass that was in her hands on the ground. He ran over to her. "Kirsten are you ok?" he asked leading her out of the glass mess. She stared at him, "are you remembering things?" she asked intently.

He shook his head confused "Remembering things? Not in particular, why?"

She smiled sadly, "Stretch is your nickname for me, well one of many." He sighed, "Nope, sorry to disappoint, you are just really tall and thin." She grabbed his face, "you aren't disappointing me Cameron, not even close. You could could never." They stood and stared into each other's eyes. He was desperate to say more, but didn't know how or what to say.

An alarm went off in the next room, "we Stitch again in an hour," he told her and she nodded. "Let's get ready."

 **Chapter 7**

"After the Stitch I have some stuff I want to show you that may be able to help with our problem," she told him in the back seat of the Uber. "I have been having Linus take scans of my brain each time I Stitch and the neural pathways seem to be changing, maybe that can help us figure out what happened to you and maybe locate where the temporal Dysplasia originates from in the brain."

He stared at her, mouth open "Kirsten, how smart are you?" he asked.

"Smarter than you," she said smugly.

"I find that hard to believe," he responded matter of factly.

"And why is that?" she said in mock offense.

"Because it has never happened before," he shrugged.

"Oh just you wait and see girlfriend," she teased back.

"Girlfriend?" he asked. 'Damn-it, slipped again,' she thought.

"It's a long story, involving a bucket," she said nonchalantly.

His eyes narrowed, "this is getting super annoying."

"Tell me about it," she nudged him as the car came to a stop. They got out and as they rode the elevator down together he whispered in her ear "one last time Kirsten, are you sure about this?"

"Trust me," she whispered back.

…

Maggie was watching their exchange in the elevator from a monitor in her office. She knew that something strange was going on between the two of them and that Kirsten's general mistrust of Maggie would mean she had no qualms keeping something from her. Maggie's relief at Cameron's return had been like a 200lb weight had been lifted from her shoulders. She felt responsible for manipulating Cameron into his hyper protection of Kirsten. She knew how deeply Marta had affected him and she used it to her advantage to increase their connection. The connection between the Stitcher and the Pilot was critical for the procedure to work, and it was part of the reason Camille struggled so much. Maggie had no idea how deep Cameron's protectiveness ran until that awful day, and she spent each day since then regretting pushing Kirsten and Cameron together. He was dangerously attached, and she wasn't entirely sure that Kirsten could say the same. Even with his memory of her all but wiped, the feelings for her were still there. Maggie needed to watch him closely to make sure this didn't get any further out of control than it already was. She walked out on to the platform as the elevator opened.

"Ready for a pilot Cameron?" Maggie tested.

Cameron looked to Kirsten one last time for help and she walked away to get ready.

"Ready to give it a try, as long as Camille promises to stand-by and watch what I am doing," he responded. Camille smiled, half relieved and half disappointed. The team prepped for the Stitch and got into position.

"Stitch neurosync on my mark, 3-2-1...mark," Cameron said with Camille by his side. He turned to whisper in her ear, "watch my timing will ya?" She narrowed her eyes and nodded.

"OK, so I am in the room with the computers again, Cameron, try and get me close to Justin's death," Kirsten demanded.

"OK Stretch, I am going to pull you into what I believe is his death, but he has fooled us before," Cameron maneuvered into the target area with expert skill.

Kirsten watched the scene around her change as Justin walked down a dark alley. He looked like he was trying to keep a low profile, but was determined, "I am in a dark alley, but he looks like he has a plan," Kirsten filled the team in.

"You are one minute in," Camille whispered in his ear.

"OK Kirsten, look around, see if you can see a sign, or any detail," Cameron told her.

Kirsten looked around. "There are planes, several of them in a line in the air, we must be near an airport, the area is not good."

"LAX," Camille and Linus said at the same time. They made eye contact for a second and then quickly averted their gaze.

Justin met his contact on a street corner.

"I made them pay for what they did, and not a penny more, they deserved what they got," he told the shadowy figure.

"Justin did avenge his sister's death," Kirsten confirmed.

"But what about your part in her death, are you forgetting you were the one who got her involved in the first place?" the figure in the hoodie asked.

"She was never meant to get hurt and you know that," Justin responded. Kirsten was pulled into another memory, a strip club where Sarah was dancing on stage, with a sign behind her that read "Diamond Dogs". She seemed like an amature, like she was trying out for a big boss. She was pulled back into the memory on the alley on the street.

"You have two minutes left Cameron," Camille warned.

"OK Kirsten, we are almost out of time," Cameron responded.

"He got his sister wrapped up in some sort of scheme, she was posing as a stripper," she replied.

"Look, they got what was coming to them, I did as you asked, now I want this over," Justin told the shadowy figure. The shadowy figured revealed her face as she pulled her hood back for a second.

"That's why we are here," the woman said, she shoved a silenced gun directly to his heart and pulled the trigger just as Kirsten bounced.

She sprang out of the water with a sharp intake of breath. Leaving it until the moment of death was always stressful for her. Having the connection broken was jarring enough, but doing it while the subject was shot in the heart gave it a little extra umph.

"Did you see who killed him?" Maggie asked as she approached the fish tank.

"I did, it was someone who was in on the big plan, she seemed to be cleaning up loose ends," Kirsten responded. "It seems like they were trying to pull off a con on someone as a team and something went wrong with the plan. They got in over their heads and two of them paid for it with their lives."

"Well, I know one thing is for sure," Linus called out, "someone is going to have to find that strip club."

"Pervert" Camille whispered under her breath, with a small smile.

"He's not wrong," Kirsten said coming down the stairs in her towel.

"Why do I get the feeling that my "first" fieldwork experience is going to be really awkward?" Cameron asked, in a slightly high pitched tone.


End file.
